Oil, gas groups sue to block US rule raising drilling fees on public lands

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

May 16, 2024 4:00 PM EDT Updated 12 hours ago


May 16 (Reuters) - Fossil fuel groups have sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management seeking to block a rule that will raise fees for oil and gas development on federal lands as a part of the U.S. government's broader effort to boost returns and address environmental harms stemming from drilling on public lands.

The Western Energy Alliance, a trade group representing oil and gas companies that drill on federal lands in the western U.S., and several other industry groups sued the agency, which comes under the Interior Department, in Wyoming federal court on Wednesday. They argued the rule will deter future oil and gas development, violating the government's obligation to promote such development. The bureau declined to comment.

Under the new policy finalized last month, oil and gas companies will pay higher bonds to help ensure old oil and gas wells are plugged and restored, as well as increased lease rents, minimum auction bids and royalty rates for the fuels they extract. The rule, the first comprehensive update to federal onshore oil and gas leasing regulations in decades, will also limit drilling in sensitive wildlife and cultural areas.

Royalty rates will jump to 16.67% from 12.5%, while minimum lease bonds will increase to $150,000 from $10,000.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/oil-gas-groups-sue-block-us-rule-raising-drilling-fees-public-lands-2024-05-16/

[sakabatou]

1. The barrons seem to forget that the land belongs to the People, not the conglomerate.

[mjvpi]

2. About time. These companies have been driving climate change and inflation.

Record profits while our country digs out of Covid. Congress can’t even figure out how to get rid of totally unnecessary subsidies for the most profitable companies in the world. They are extracting on land that is owned by you and me. Then they sell on the world market. The Saudis don’t raise their output. Russian oil is sanctioned. So America, the leading oil producer in the world for the last two years, will become victim to these companies who will sell the oil that they extract from public land at a set price and then sell back to us at the going rate of the world market. This drives inflation because transportation affects everything in our economy. Gas prices will be high going into the election. It’ll all be Biden’s fault. I won’t even get started on them knowingly contributing to climate change. They are very powerful scum.

[Bayard]

3. Poor things!

They simply can't afford a raise in fees from the subsidies we give them to drill on our land.


"Continued fossil fuel expansion is even more disconcerting coupled with the fact that Big Oil is using taxpayer dollars for exploration and development. Billions of dollars in public subsidies support the development of new oil and gas wells in the Permian Basin and across the country every year. Not only are taxpayers paying for new oil and gas wells, they are also paying for the cleanup of unplugged oil and gas wells that fossil fuel companies have left to pollute the environment."

$28,808,000,000 in Fourth Quarter 2023 Net Income.

https://www.nrdc.org/bio/zanagee-artis/big-oil-made-billions-amidst-hottest-year-record

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. If they don't like the price of public land

go buy private land. That's a "free market" way of dealing with the issue.